THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE
the meat had not begun to be odorous!
Dragon lizards like it in a state of advanced
putrefaction.
During the second day, however, we
found the bait gone. The door had fallen
without catching the dragon, although the
creature had left plenty of evidence of
its visit inside the trap.
We were never able to explain this es
cape. The trap was so designed that, once
the door had closed, a steel catch made it
impossible to raise it from below. If the
door had fallen on the tail of the visitor
and been pushed up again, the reptile must
indeed have been of monstrous size, as the
door was far too heavy to be raised by any
thing so slender as the last three or four
feet of a dragon's tail.
It is, of course, possible that two walked
into the trap together and that, while one
ate the bait and sprung the trap, the other
received the door on its shoulders. In' that
case, the first one may have turned around
and escaped through the opening while its
companion was disengaging itself.
Disappointed with this initial trial of the
trap, we thought it best to arrange for a
watcher while we went off in search of
other likely places where we could try our
luck with meat baits and nooses.
Finding lizard tracks on the beach at
another part of the island, Lord Moyne
shot two wild pigs, and three nooses were
set in front of the carcasses. These snares
were so arranged as to catch a medium
sized dragon lizard just behind the shoul
ders.
Returning later in the day, we surprised
two small dragons feeding on the carcass.
I was able to get a picture of one before
they made off.
Then, to our astonishment, we found a
seven-foot crocodile lying strangled by one
of the nooses. We were much surprised at
this, as we had no idea that there were any
crocodiles in the bay or that these reptiles
would live entirely in salt water. It was
March-the rainy season, so we were told
-yet there were no running streams on the
island.
DRAGONS LEAVE A "GRAPEVINE" TRAIL
Fascinating was the study of the tracks
on the island's many beaches. We soon
learned to distinguish between the spoor
of the crocodiles, with the tail-groove cen
tered between a straight line of footmarks,
and the wavy tracks of the dragons, which
remind one of the conventional decorative
treatment of grapes and vine tendrils.
Lizard footmarks in the sand are the clus
ters of grapes, while the curves made by
the tail, sweeping from side to side, re
semble the tendrils (page 329).
We soon discovered that the larger lizards
are by no means restricted to the mountain
tops, as some previous observers had sug
gested. Not only small ones but also the
twelve-foot giants come right down to the
beach.
A FIGHTING CAPTIVE
It was an exciting moment when our trap
watcher came to report a catch! On reach
ing the trap we found that the dragon was
of only moderate size, but very fierce. As
soon as anyone came near, it dashed itself
against the wire sides of the trap, causing
us extreme anxiety lest it should injure
itself.
After a consultation as to the best method
of getting it to the ship uninjured, we
thought it best to collect a dozen natives
and get the trap carried down to the sea
on their shoulders (page 324). It would
not be pleasant to be bitten or wounded
by the powerful claws of these carrion
eating reptiles.
Fortunately, once on the ship, we found
no difficulty in transferring them by at
tracting them from the darkened trap into
the sunlit cage and quickly shutting the
door between.
After this first capture, we established
the trap near the beach where the lizards
were being drawn by the lure of a putre
fying dead pig which we had placed just
out of their reach in a tree. The attrac
tion of the bait seemed to be increased by
laying trails of linseed oil, and after this
we were able to catch dragons as fast as
we could make cages in which to keep them.
Since the trapping was well established,
I was glad to be able to spend my time
procuring a series of pictures. Near the
rock where the trap had previously stood,
we tied up a dead goat and prepared a
cover of green canvas and branches, from
behind which I could watch and photo
graph the reptiles without being seen by
them (opposite page).
First of all, I found that dragon lizards
love the sun. They would not emerge from
their lairs before the sun was high in the
heavens. Perspiration fairly poured off me.
The first day the lizards were suspicious
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